Motor vehicle disc brake systems utilize a disc brake rotor at each respective wheel, wherein the disc brake rotor typically includes a rotor hat for connecting to an axle hub of a rotatable axle of the motor vehicle, and at least one annular rotor cheek connected to the rotor hat, wherein the at least one rotor cheek has a pair of mutually opposed braking surfaces onto which brake pads are selectively applied when braking is desired. Typically, the rotor cheek configuration may be solid, in which case a single rotor cheek has opposing braking surfaces thereon, or may be vented, in which case a pair of rotor cheeks are mutually separated by a web of ventilation vanes and each rotor cheek provides a respective braking surface so that, in combination, two mutually opposed braking surfaces are provided.
The disc brake system further typically includes a caliper which supports a mutually opposed pair of brake pads, one brake pad disposed overlying a respective rotor cheek braking surface, wherein the caliper, the brake pads, and other associated brake components collectively form a “brake corner”. Normally, the caliper keeps the brake pads separated from the braking surfaces of the one or more rotor cheeks. Braking of the motor vehicle occurs at the brake corner by the caliper pressing the brake pads upon the braking surfaces of the one or more rotor cheeks. Frictional interaction between the one or more rotating rotor cheeks and non-rotating brake pads causes braking of the motor vehicle to transpire, the rate of braking depending upon the pressure of the brake pads against the braking surfaces.
Brake squeal can be undesirably generated at the brake corner when braking occurs. This brake squeal is the result of modal excitations of the disc brake rotor (composed usually of cast iron) by the frictional material of the brake pads. It is known in the prior art that brake squeal can be addressed by reducing modal excitation on the disc brake rotor by the friction material of the brake pads (ie., lowering the frictional coefficient), by modifying the modal excitation response of the brake corner via changing the modal properties of the rotor cheeks (ie., in terms of resonant frequencies, mode shapes, and structural damping through higher carbon content of the one or more rotor cheeks and/or increasing the disc brake rotor mass, or using exotic, expensive materials), and by introducing additional damping for example via a shim disposed at a backing plate of the brake pads.
The aforementioned brake squeal countermeasures are relatively effective for most brake corner designs, but they require a significant amount of testing and analytical resources in order to be effective. And unfortunately, brake corners for performance motor vehicles, or those motor vehicles with high friction lining materials, are resistant to the prior art brake squeal countermeasures, due to the high amount of modal excitation from the friction material of the brake pads.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,257 describes a concept directed toward reducing unwanted disc brake noise via a ring damper affixed around the periphery of the disc brake rotor in a manner which permits relative motion and slippage between the ring damper and the disc brake rotor when the disc brake rotor vibrates during braking. In a preferred embodiment, a groove formed at the periphery of the rotor cheek and the ring damper is disposed in the groove with a pre-loading both radially and transversely.
While the concept described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,257 is noteworthy in that an attempt is made to apply Coulomb friction damping to reduce brake squeal, it falls short of this goal. The reason for this is the requirement that the ring damper must be peripherally disposed on the disc brake rotor. Unfortunately, the modal excitations induced during braking at the brake corner arise at the contact between the brake pads and the braking surfaces of the one of more rotor cheeks. Therefore, reliance on radial loading that the peripheral placement of the damping ring of U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,257 cannot achieve adequate brake squeal damping in the region of the disc brake rotor coextensively with the braking surfaces of the rotor cheek.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is to somehow provide damping disposed in generally coextensive relation to the braking surfaces of the one or more rotor cheeks.